Extensible foot-rest for chairs.



C. A. LEE.

EXTENSIBLE FOOT REST FOR CHAIRS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I5. 1914.

1,156,156. Pmnted oct. I2, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEE`I I.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRM'I: co.. WASIIINGToN, n. c.

c. A. LEE.

EXTENSIBLE FOOT REST FOR CHAIRS. APPLICATION FILED JAN. l5, 1914.

1,156,156. y Patented 001. 12, 1915.

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ATToRNYs IOLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, D.

C. A. LEE.

EXTENSIBLE FOOT REST FOR CHAIRS. APPLICATION FILED IAN. I5, 1914.

1,156,156. Patented ot.12,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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INVENTOR MM ogm/(24a. z -LIL l M M BYlfs/amahznduv ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOCIRAPH C0.. WASHINGTON. Dic

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEicE.

CHARLES A. LEE, 0F ONEIDA, NEW YORK.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. LEE, of Oneida, in the county of Madison and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Extensible Foot- Rests for Chairs; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to thev referencenumerals marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

This invention relates to extensible foot rests as applied to chairs and the like and particularly to that class wherein the foot rest when not in use is housed entirely lbeneath the seat of the chair andwhen'V desired for use may be readily drawn forward and detachably secured in operative position.

The purpose of my invention is to provide an improved article of the class described and one that is Simple and economical ;in construction and practical and durablein use.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved construction whereby the foot rest is at all times loosely' connected to the chair seat frame and whereby the rear end of the rest is guided and carried in its movement from housed position to extended position and from extended position to housed position.

A still further object o-f my invention is to provide in combination with the other parts of the device a peculiarly effective and simple form of such supporting and guiding means for the rear end of the rest and one which will allow the rest to be easily manipulated and likewise allow it to easily come to a position higher than the usual range of motion of a footy rest so that the foot rest may if desired be practically on a line with the chair Seat.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved and simple construction conveniently operated by the occupant of the chair for disconnecting the brace below the foot rest from its engagement with the coperating hooks beneath the chair frame. f

I have illustrated my invention in connection with what is commonly known as a platform rocker for the reason that this sort of a chair is one of the hardest to have a plied thereto a practical foot rest. I do not mean, however, to limit my invention to use in connection with such a chair as it will be v Speciication of Letters Patent.

obvious from the drawings and specifications herein that my construction may be applied without change except as to size of parts to an ordinary chair. Vhen Sov applied it will operate the v same as with the platform rocker except that of course the foot rest can now perform no, function of controlling the rocking movement.

Figure l is a side view of a chair and extensible foot'rest embodying my invention, the -near rocker and near rocker platform being broken. away to more clearly show the construction. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig, 3 is a perpendicular sectional view on an enlarged scale of certain parts of the chair on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. a is a perpendicular sectional view on an enlarged scale ofxcertain parts of the chair on line Ll-4 of Fig.

2. Fig. 5 is va plan view on van enlarged scale of a rear corner of the foot rest and the adjacent end of the bail and the forward a f end of one of the guide rods. 'Fig 6 is a front view of the hook engaging plate 18.

The foot rest may be applied to any chair having suiiicient space .beneath the chair seat frame 8 and between the opposite front posts thereof 9 to conveniently house the foot rest 10. Secured at their ends to the front and back of the'chair seat frame 8 are two guide rods'll oppositely located near the sides of the frame or the rockers 12. From their rear ends these guide rodsex tend in a practically horizontal directionas at l1a to a point alittle distance back from the front ofthe chair where they are preferably inclined downward as at 11b until they come directlybeneath the front of' the chair frame where they are turned directly upward as at 1lc and secured to the front of the seat frame as at 11d. A bail 13 is pivotally mounted upon the rear of the footrest 10 as by having screws 14 project through eyes 15 formed upon the extremities of they stering 16 with the guide rods, the end-porf tions 13a of the bail are bent somewhat out-y I Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

Application filed January 15, 1914. Serial No. 812,333.

wardly as they extend from the foot rest and the guide rods 11 are a little farther apart than the width of the 4foot rest as plainly indicated in Figs. 2 and 5.

Tt will now be obvious 'that as far as the parts already mentioned are concerned the foot rest 10 has its rear end loosely' and pivotally or swingingly connected to the chair frame 8 by loop 13b of the bail 13 being mounted upon the guide rods 11 so that the foot rest 10 may be brought to a forward and raised position for use as indicated in full lines in Fig. 1 and may be moved to the housed position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 through the rear of the foot rest being allowed to drop until the loop 13b of the bail vrests against the guide rods and still further allowed to drop through the pivotal connection of the eye 15 upon the screw 1l whereupon the rea-r end of the rest will be suspended below the guide rods. The foot rest may then be easily moved rearward with the bail loop 13b sliding upon the two guide rods. v

As means for detachably securing the rear of the foot rest 10 to the front of the seat frame 8 'with va necessary amount of pivotal movement to afford desired adjustment of the foot rest, there is rigidly secured to the rear edge of the foot rest 10 a pair of oppositely disposed brackets 17 projecting` rearward from said rest and having their ends downturned and then pointed forward to form a forwardly opening hook as plainly indicated in Figs. 3 and t. At corresponding positions upon the front of the seat frame there are rigidly secured plates 18 each having a perpendicular slot 19 and at a short distance therebelow a hole 20 leaving an intervening bridge 21 upon which bear the brackets 17 when they have been finally adjusted to the said plates. A recess 22 is provided in the frame 8 back of the plate to allow the hook of the brackets 17 to be inserted into the slots 19 a sufficient distance so that the point of the hook will pass downward far enough to engage the opening 2O when the foot rest is brought to final position. It will be noticed that the ends 13a of the bail 13 are of such length as to allow this attaching movement or allow detachment through reversing the proceedings, but that this loose connection by the bail of the foot rest and chair frame materially aid in directing the hooked bracket 17 to the slots 19. In fact, crosswise of the chair, the bail lits upon the guide rods so closely as to hold the brackets 17 in line with the slots 19 so that all vthe occupant has to do is to 'see that the brackets are brought to the right height. From the cross piece 23 connecting the front ends of the rocker platforms 211 or in a rigid chair connecting 'the' front legs to the back similar cross piece 25 there exists a centrally disposed slat 26 upon the forward end of which are provided a series of forwardly opening hooks 27 and in front thereof a stop 28 for the purposes hereafter mentioned.

At oppositely disposed points upon the front lower part of the foot rest 10 are pivotally attached the forward ends of the two legs of a brace 29. The legs of this brace approach each other as they extend rearwardly and at their rear ends are connected by a forwardly extending loop 30 adapted to engage in an obvious way any of the forwardly opening hooks 27 when the foot rest is in extended position. This brace through its downward and backward thrust against one of the hooks 27, it is apparent, will support the front end of the foot rest when extended, at various angles according to which one of. the hooks 27 is used. Through the wide stretch ofthe forward ends of the legs of this brace any tendency of either front corner of the foot rest to tip is overcome. Through the outward thrust that this brace imparts to the foot rest, the hooks 17 are kept in proper engagement with the bridges 21 of thefplates 18 and so the rear end of the foot rest is kept securely attached to the seat frame while at the same time all necessary pivotal movement at that point is allowed so that without detaching the hooked brackets from the plates 1S, the front end of the foot rest may be adjusted to various heights by manipulating brace 29 to engage a hook farther front orback.

As improved and convenient means for operating brace 29 without the occupant having to reach under the chair or rest, there is provided a chain 31 secured at its lower end to one of the legs of the brace 29 and extending upward through an eye 32 upon the rear edge of the foot rest and there provided with an enlargement such as ring 33 which holds the upper end of th-e chain to the rear side of the foot rest at all times and affords a convenient means for drawing upward upon the chain by the` occupant of the chair. It will be obvious that by so drawing upward on this chain and at the same time raising slightly the front end of the rest,

the loop 30 of the brace 29 will be drawn up and out of engagement with the hooks 27. Then by lowering the front of the rest and then the chain, the brace 29 will move rearwardly allowing the loop 30 to engage a hook 27 farther back, or, if desired, to pass all the hooks, and, the hooked brackets 17 t being disengaged from the bridges 21 of plates 18, allow the foot rest to be moved to housed position. In so moving to housed position, the bail 13 will suspendin'gly support the rear end of the foot rest from the guide rods 11 as already described and the forward end of the foot rest will be slidingly :supported by the sides thereof resting upon projections extending inwardly a short distance from the rockers 12.v These J projections 3st keep the foot rest well up under the front of the chair frame and prevent it coming in contact with the coil springs 35 ordinarily used in a platform rocker of the kind illustrated in the drawings, to connect the platform and the rockers.

In moving to housed position the loop 30 of brace 29 will slide rearwardly along slat 2G. To bring the foot rest to extended position, the foot rest is grasped in front and pulled outwardly, its weight being slidingly carried in front by projections 34 and in the rear by the bail 13 on guide rods 11 while the loop 30 of brace 29 trails behind upon slats 26. `When the rest is entirely out from beneath the chair frame, its rear end is raised and hooked brackets 17 adjusted into engagement with the bridges 21 of plates 18 as already described. Then the outer end of the foot rest is raised to desired angle, the loop 30 riding over the slanting rear sides of hooks 27 but being prevented frombeing drawn too far front by the rearwardly slanting stop 28.

To a chair of this general type of platform rocker it will be noticed that my invention is applied in substantially the form already described without sacrificing any of th-e advantages of the foot rest or its attachments, which would be present in a rigid chair, and without interfering with the use of the chair as a rocking chair. Moreover through the foot rest brackets 17 having a swinging or pivotal contact in the plates 18 and the brace 29 having a pivotal connection with the forward part of the foot rest and through its loop 30 with the engaged hook 27 and the chair seat frame being in rocking contact with the rocker platforms 24, it will be obvious that these four movable contacts between the vario-us parts named enable the occupant of the chair by very slight pressure of his feet or legs applied intermittently upon the foot rest to impart a rocking movement to the chair without removing his feet from the foot rest. It will thus be seen that the foot rest not only performs all of its functions as an ordinary extensible foot rest but also enables the occupant to use the foot rest as a means of operating the chair without in any way interfering with the operation of or losing the benefit of the foot rest.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. lThe combination in a chair and an extensible foot rest, of a chair seat frame, oppositely disposed guide rods secured to and located beneath the frame and extending from front to back, a foot rest adapted to be housed beneath said frame, a bail having its ends pivotally Vsecured to the sides of said rest and having its loop slidingly mounted on said guide rods and adapted to carry the rear of said rest when housed, sockets in the front of the seat frame, rigid hooks projecting rearwardly vfrom the rear of said rest and adapted to removably engage said sockets and means including a rearwardly and downwardly slanting brace beneath said rest for supporting the front of said rest in extended position.

2. The combination in a chair and an extensible foot rest, of a chair seat frame, oppositelv disposed guide rods secured to and locatedbeneath the frame and extending from front to back, a foot rest adapted to be housed beneath said frame, a bail having its ends pivotally secured to the sides of said rest and having its loop slidingly mounted c-n said guide rods and adapted to carry the rear of said rest when housed, socketsin the front of the seat frame, rigid hooks projecting rearwardly from the rear of said rest and adapted to lockingly engage said sockets on outward pressure of said rest and to be removed therefrom upon the rest being temporarily moved inwardly and upwardly and a brace having its forward end secured to said rest and its rearward end slanting downwardly, said brace adapted to support the outer end of said rest when extended and to keep said hooks in locking engagement with said sockets.

3. The combination in a chair and an eX- tensible foot rest, of a chair seat frame, oppositely disposed guide rods secured to and located beneath the frame and extending from front to back, a foot rest adapted to be housed beneath said frame, a bail having its ends pivotally secured to the sides of said rest and having its loop slidingly mounted on said guide rods and adapted to carry theV rear of said rest when housed, sockets in the front of the seat frame, rigid hooks projecting rearwardly from the rear of said rest and adapted to removably engage said sockets, a brace having its forward end secured to said rest and its rearward end slanting downwardly, a notched rack below the seat frame adapted to detachably support `the rearward end of said brace and a cord secured to said brace toward its rear end and extending upward to the rear of' the rest whereby an upward tension imparted to said cord will remove the rearward end of said brace from engagement with said notched rack and allow said brace to pass rearwardly when the rest is to be housed.

ln witness whereof I have aixed my signature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 22nd day of Dec. 1913.

CHARLES A. LEE.

Witnesses:

J. S. CRANDELL, HARRIET VViLLIAMs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C. 

